text:
April 14th, 2016 – Force Field, a newly established virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) development group, has merged with respected game developer Vanguard Games, establishing itself as a premier exclusive VR & AR content and technology development studio. Vanguard previously developed console and mobile video games, and is most known for codeveloping Halo: Spartan Assault and sequel Halo: Spartan Strike with 343 Industries and publisher Microsoft Studios. The companies will now operate as AR & VR specialist house Force Field, with the studio expanding its expertise beyond games, also developing broader entertainment experiences.
"We are super excited to reveal our official shift to exclusively work on VR & AR under a new banner, Force Field," said Arthur Houtman, CEO, Force Field. "We kicked off in this new direction nearly a year ago through our partnership with Oculus and absolutely fell in love with the possibilities of this new platform. We believe in the incredibly potent future of VR and AR and have made the bold decision to refocus our entire company. Based on our legacy, awesome talent, studio size and deep relationships with the platforms, we feel confident that Force Field is in a unique position to create high quality games, interactive entertainment and experiences in virtual reality."
Force Field's exclusive focus on VR signals a new era among developers, since VR is typically a side project at larger developers or the focus of dedicated teams at small independents. As an established developer with 60 people, the resources in terms of scale and talent, Force Field is a first among peers. The company has already secured global partnerships over the past year with several of the leading companies in the fields of VR and AR hardware and platforms, and has kicked off several high profile projects. The first product to launch will be a game for Oculus Rift, and more information will be revealed later this year.
Force Field has shown itself to be a talented team with the creative and technical skills to bring experiences to life," Jason Rubin, Head of Studios at Oculus said. "VR opens the door to an incredible future of immersive entertainment. Its exciting to see established studios like Force Field jumping in with both feet."
For more about Force Field, visit the official website: www.forcefieldvr.com.
For career inquiries or more information, please contact email@example.com.


text:
The Yankees' starting infield will earn $85.2 million this season.
That is more than the entire payroll of 16 teams: Atlanta, Rockies, Orioles, Brewers, Rays, Reds, Royals, Blue Jays, Nationals, Cleveland, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Rangers, Athletics, Padres, and Pirates.
New York also has the four highest-paid players in the game this year: Alex Rodriguez ($33 million), CC Sabathia ($24.2), Derek Jeter ($22.6), and Mark Teixeira ($20.6). John Lackey ($18.7), at #12, is the only Boston player in the Top 25. Last year, the Yankees had six players in the Top 25, while Boston had none.
April 6, 2010
NYY Infield Earning More Than 16 Teams
by allan at 9:05 AM
2 comments:
- FenFan said...
I don't know if this is a comment on the fact that the Yankees spend so much or that several teams don't spend enough. Baseball does not need a salary cap as much as it needs a salary floor, IMO.
- April 6, 2010 at 1:37 PM
- Doogie said...
I'd be interested in seeing compiled statistics at the end of the season to determine the following:
a) if this is still true
b) whether the Yankees infield outhit the other teams, individually and collectively.
c) whether the Yankees infield outfielded the other teams, individually and collectively.
- April 7, 2010 at 7:50 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
The Searchers, playing on TCM on Tuesday
There are three films playing this week that I honestly can't believe I haven't featured before. TCM is playing John Ford's classic The Searchers on Tuesday and King Kong on Saturday, both of which are definitely must-sees if you haven't seen them before. Then one of my all-time favorite films (I've probably seen it fifteen times) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is on Sunday on Fox Movie Channel; I don't always include Fox Movie in this column, so that could explain why that one hasn't come up before. Other notable newly featured films include the better-than-you'd-expect noirish Nightmare Alley, a more than adequate adaptation of Virginia Woolf's difficult-to-film novel Mrs. Dalloway, Tommy Lee Jones's strong directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and the unjustly forgotten William Powell-led mystery The Kennel Murder Case. Lots of variety and good stuff to choose from this week.
Monday, May 3
4:15pm – TCM – Midnight
Solid Billy Wilder/Charles Brackett-penned screwball comedy that ought to be better known than it is. Claudette Colbert ends up in the middle of a millionare-wife-gigolo triangle, paid by the millionaire husband to break up the wife and gigolo by impersonating a baroness; meanwhile, a poor taxi driver she'd met previously is smitten with her and seeks her out, only to find her in her new guise. Sparkling dialogue and a strong cast give this a sophisticated twist that doesn't quite match Lubitsch at his best, but is on the same track.
1939 USA. Director: Mitchell Leisen. Starring: Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Francis Lederer.
9:00am – Fox Movie – Nightmare Alley
Fox didn't make too many noir films, and this one just barely sneaks in by virtue of…some high contrast lighting here and there? Okay, we'll give it to them. Anyway, Tyrone Power gives one of his better performances here as an opportunistic carney who takes a chance to turn a sideshow fortune telling act into a high-profile nightclub show, no matter who he takes down on his way to the top. What it does to his personal life and his own psyche is pretty dark and kind of fascinating, and Helen Walker is great as a psychiatrist who may have her own angle to work. Also, look out for one of the more off-putting definitions of the word "geek."
1947 USA. Director: Edmund Goulding. Starring: Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, Helen Walker.
Newly Featured!
10:00pm – Fox Movie – Miller's Crossing
The Coen brothers take on 1930s gangland with this film, and do so admirably well. As they do most things. I have to admit I wasn't quite as enamored of it as I usually am of Coen films, but it definitely has its moments.
1990 USA. Director: Joel Coen. Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, John Turturro, Jon Polito, Albert Finney.
3:30am (4th) – TCM – Oklahoma!
I can't begin to guess how many times I watched Oklahoma! growing up, but it's well into double-digits. It's a routine but darker-than-usual story for a musical, about minor conflicts between farmers and cowboys, a couple of young lovers, and the obsessive farmhand who wants the girl for himself. But the way the music and dancing is integrated is wonderful (and groundbreaking in the 1943 play the film is based on).
1955 USA. Director: Fred Zinnemann. Starring: Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones, Rod Steiger, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Eddie Albert, Charlotte Greenwood, James Whitmore.
Tuesday, May 4
4:00pm – TCM – Roman Holiday
Audrey Hepburn's first lead role, and the one that immediately catapulted her into stardom. She's a princess who runs away to try out being normal, and spends an adventurous day exploring Rome with incognito journalist Gregory Peck. Pretty much delightful right the way through.
1953 USA. Director: William Wyler. Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert.
6:00pm – TCM – Breakfast at Tiffany's
Audrey Hepburn's signature role in a career full of memorable films, as party girl Holly Golightly, trying to make her way in mod New York City. Breakfast at Tiffany's for me encapsulates 1960s style probably more than any other film, and with a grace and warmth that never grows old.
1961 USA. Director: Blake Edwards. Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Mickey Rooney.
Must See
7:05pm – IFC – Blow Out
Sound man John Travolta is recording sound samples one night, and may have accidentally recorded a murder occurring. As he tries to investigate, he's drawn into a dangerous conspiracy. Inspired to some degree by Antonioni's photography-based Blow-Up, but this is definitely DePalma's film all the way.
1981 USA. Director: Brian DePalma. Starring: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz.
8:00pm – TCM – Stagecoach
Major breakthrough for John Wayne, here playing outlaw Cisco Kid – he and the various other people on a stagecoach form a cross-section of old West society that has to learn to get on together to make it to the end of the ride alive. Excellent performances and stunt-filled action sequences make this one of the best westerns ever made.
1939 USA. Director: John Wayne. Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Andy Devine, Thomas Mitchell.
Must See
10:00pm – TCM – The Searchers
Deservedly considered one of the greatest westerns ever made, a high point in the careers of both John Wayne and John Ford. Wayne is the almost anti-heroic main character Ethan Edwards, driven by anger and revenge to find the group of Indians who killed his nearly estranged family and kidnapped his young niece. Along with the contemporary films of Anthony Mann, The Searchers marks a point in the Western genre where we can no longer necessarily accept the motives of the good guys to be pure, and in fact, are forced to question if the good guys are actually good – perhaps the beginning of the revisionist western. Ford's command of cinematic space and the language of the frame here is unparalleled, and the performances and everything else in the film match it.
1956 USA. Director: John Ford. Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood.
Must See
Newly Featured!
Wednesday, May 5
6:15am – Sundance – Ran
Akira Kurosawa's inspired transposition of King Lear into medieval Japan, mixing Shakespeare and Japanese Noh theatre tradition like nobody's business.
1985 Japan. Director: Akira Kurosawa. Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu.
Must See
(repeats at 12:30pm, and 10pm on the 8th, and 4:10am on the 9th)
7:45am – IFC – Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway is likely my all-time favorite book or very close to it, and it's a book that you'd never expect could be made into a good film. It depends an awful lot on stream of consciousness, internal monologue and memory, and a subjective experience of time – all stylistic and narrative elements that don't translate well to film. However, this 1997 version of the novel with Vanessa Redgrave perfectly cast as the older Clarissa Dalloway and Natascha McElhone (why the heck isn't she in more stuff?) as flashback-Clarissa comes about as close as I think is cinematically possible. It doesn't come close to matching the book for me, but it is a solid film and captures a lot of Woolf's spirit.
1997 USA/UK. Director: Marleen Gorris. Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, Michael Kitchen, Alan Cox, Sarah Badel, Lena Headey, John Standing.
Newly Featured!
(repeats at 12:45pm)
5:45pm – IFC – The New World
Terrence Malick may not make many films, but the ones he does make, wow. Superficially the story of John Smith and Pocahontas, The New World is really something that transcends mere narrative – this is poetry on film. Every scene, every shot has a rhythm and an ethereal that belies the familiarity of the story we know. I expected to dislike this film when I saw it, quite honestly. It ended up moving me in ways I didn't know cinema could.
2005 USA. Director: Terrence Malick. Starring: Colin Farrell, Q'orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, Christopher Plummer.
Must See
(repeats at 5:05am on the 6th)
10:05pm – IFC – The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Tommy Lee Jones takes up the directorial reins for the first time with this revisionist western about a rancher whose Mexican right-hand-man dies, his last request being that his body be returned across the border to his family. Thus begins an odyssey that's more about mood and character than anything else. It's not wholly even, but Jones has an excellent eye, and this was one of the more surprisingly good films of its year.
2005 USA. Director: Tommy Lee Jones. Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cedillo, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones, Melissa Leo.
Newly Featured!
12:05am (6th) – IFC – The Good German
Steven Soderbergh's attempt using 1940s equipment and filming techniques didn't actually turn into a particularly good movie, but as a filmmaking experiment, it's still fairly interesting. And has George Clooney and Cate Blanchett in gorgeous B&W as former lovers/current spies, if you're into that sort of thing.
2006 USA. Director: Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire.
Thursday, May 6
4:00pm – TCM – The Third Man
Novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) searches for his elusive, possibly murdered friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) in post-war Vienna. A little bit of American film noir, a little bit of European ambiguity, all mixed together perfectly by screenwriter Grahame Green and director Carol Reed.
1949 UK/US. Director: Carol Reed. Starring: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles.
Must See
5:45pm – TCM – Citizen Kane
Widely considered the greatest American film ever made, I'd be very surprised if anyone reading this hasn't seen it. The quest for what makes publisher/politician Charles Foster Kane tick takes a journalist through a fractured narrative that never seems to give any definitive answers. Personally, I respect and recommend Kane for its innovations in narrative, cinematography, and cinema language, but I find it a difficult film to love (yet even that is fitting, as the difficulty of loving or being loved by Kane himself is a central theme).
1941 USA. Director: Orson Welles. Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead.
Must See
10:05pm – IFC – Secretary
Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader – making sado-masochism fun since 2002! But seriously, this was Maggie's breakout role, and it's still probably her best, as a damaged young woman whose only outlet is pain. And despite the subject, Secretary is somehow one of the sweetest and most tender romances of recent years.
2002 USA. Director: Steven Shainberg. Starring:James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Friday, May 7
1:00pm – TCM – Sergeant York
Gary Cooper won his first Oscar for his portrayal of WWI hero Sgt. Alvin York, a pacifist who somehow decided that the fastest way to stop the killing was to join up and kill as many Germans as he could to end the war.
1941 USA. Director: Howard Hawks. Starring: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Margaret Wycherly, Ward Bond.
3:30pm – TCM – Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
One of Frank Capra's most whimsical films stars Gary Cooper as an unassuming country boy who suddenly inherits a great amount of money. When he decides to give it all away to whoever comes and asks for some, he garners a media frenzy, everyone thinking he's crazy. Idealistic, warmly funny, and, yes, Capracorny. But as corn goes, it's among the best. Also, any chance to see Jean Arthur is worth taking.
1936 USA. Director: Frank Capra. Starring: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander, Douglass Dumbrille.
10:00pm – TCM – Doctor Zhivago
Idealistic Zhivago experiences the Bolshevik Revolution while also dealing with his conflicting feelings for his wife Tonya and young nurse Lara. There are a few things about the romance side of the story that bother me, mostly the fact that I liked Tonya way more than Lara, but I have to admit Lean knows how to make epic films, and Maurice Jarre's score is unforgettable.
1965 UK/USA. Director: David Lean. Starring: Omar Sharif, Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Alec Guinness.
Saturday, May 8
7:30am – TCM – The Kennel Murder Case
William Powell is well-known for playing detective Nick Charles in the Thin Man series of movies, but he also played private eye Philo Vance in a less well-remembered series of films based on detective novels by S.S. Van Dine. This is probably the best of the lot, a witty mystery that's not really too far off from the Thin Man vibe.
1932 USA. Director: Michael Curtiz. Starring: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan.
Newly Featured!
7:45am – IFC – Away from Her
A very strong directing debut film from actress Sarah Polley, about an older woman (Julie Christie) suffering from Alzheimer's and her husband's difficulty in dealing with essentially the loss of his wife as she has more and more difficulty remembering their life together. It's a lovely, heartbreaking film, bolstered by great understated performances.
2006 Canada. Director: Sarah Polley. Starring: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis, Stacey LaBerge.
(repeats at 1:30pm)
9:00am – TCM – The Lady from Shanghai
Most of Welles' films, no matter the genre, feel a little noirish in mood, but The Lady from Shanghai is the real thing, complete with fatalistic hero who gets dragged into a murder plot by a femme fatale (Rita Hayworth). And noir set-pieces don't get much better than the chase sequence set in a bewildering hall of mirrors.
1948 USA. Director: Orson Welles. Starring: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth.
11:30am – IFC – Before Sunrise
Before Sunrise may be little more than an extended conversation between two people (Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) who meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend all night talking and walking the streets of Vienna, I fell in love with it at first sight. Linklater has a way of making movies where nothing happens seem vibrant and fascinating, and call me a romantic if you wish, but this is my favorite of everything he's done.
1995 USA. Director: Richard Linklater. Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy.
Must See
(repeats at 5:15pm)
12:00N – TCM – King Kong
The grand-daddy of sound creature features, stop-motion special effects, and perhaps surprisingly, original film scores – despite a couple of creaky moments in the special effects, Kong holds up far better than it has any right to do. There's a purity and a sincerity about it that makes you instantly forget 80 years of advances in technology and enter fully into the magic of its story.
1933 USA. Director: Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Starring: Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Fay Wray.
Must See
Newly Featured!
8:00pm – TCM – The Lion in Winter
Katharine Hepburn won her third (of four) Oscars for her role in this film as Plantagenet matriarch Eleanor of Aquitaine, a woman who probably had more to do with the course of British and European history than most men. The film concerns her, her husband King Henry II of England, and their quarrelsome sons Richard and John (who'd make their fair share of history as King Richard Coeur de Leone and King John, of the Magna Carta) during a particularly tense Christmas reunion. It can be difficult to make medieval-set films seem immediate, but this one does.
1968 UK. Director: Anthony Harvey. Starring: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, Nigel Terry, Timothy Dalton, Jane Merrow.
10:30pm – TCM – The Adventures of Robin Hood
I will state almost categorically that this is the greatest adventure film ever made. Maybe it's a dead heat between this one and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Errol Flynn is Robin Hood, Olivia de Havilland is Maid Marion, a whole raft of fantastic character actors fill out the rest of the cast, and it's all done in gorgeous Technicolor (it's one of the earliest Technicolor films).
1938 USA. Directors: William Keighley & Michael Curtiz. Starring: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Eugene Pallette, Alan Hale, Patric Knowles, Una O'Connor.
Must See
Sunday, May 9
6:30am – TCM – Bachelor Mother
A very slight but rather charming Ginger Rogers vehicle that I like far more than I probably should. Ginger is a struggling department store clerk who happens by an orphanage just after someone leaves a baby there; she's mistaken for the mother and through a series of miscommunications with the orphanage and her boss at the store (David Niven), ends up having to take the baby. It's fairly silly at times, but also kind of heartwarming, and Ginger's honestly at her best here.
1939 USA. Director: Garson Kanin. Starring: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn, Frank Albertson.
10:00am – TCM – The Magnificent Ambersons
Welles followed up Citizen Kane with this film about a wealthy but decaying American family, but wasn't given nearly as much creative freedom. But even with studio interference, it's well worth seeing.
1942 USA. Director: Orson Welles. Starring: Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, Anne Baxter, Agnes Moorehead.
10:05am – IFC – Renaissance
In near-future Paris, a brilliant young scientist is kidnapped; her employer Avalon (a highly influential company that sells youth and beauty itself) wants her found, but her importance to them may be more sinister than first meets the eye. The story's not handled perfectly here, but it's worth watching for the beautifully stark black and white animation.
2006 France. Director: Christian Volckman. Starring (English version): Daniel Craig, Romola Garai, Ian Holm, Catherine McCormack, Jonathan Pryce.
(repeats at 4:30am on the 10th)
1:15pm – TCM – Mildred Pierce
In quite probably Joan Crawford's best role (only perhaps excepting her catty "other woman" in The Women), she plays a woman trying to work her way up in the world from lowly waitress to entrepreneur, all the while dealing with her shrew of a daughter. Melodrama isn't a particularly prized genre these days, but films like Mildred Pierce show how good melodramas can be with the right confluence of studio style, director, and star.
1945 USA. Director: Michael Curtiz. Starring: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden.
Must See
2:30pm – Fox Movie – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
A solidly entertaining and slyly witty film, quite worthy of being one of Howard Hawks' few ventures into the musical genre. Marilyn Monroe gets probably her best role here – yes, better than Some Like It Hot for my money – and her wide-eyed dumb blonde show (which is exactly what it is, a show) is perfectly complemented by Jane Russell's cynical but playful wit. Add in iconic moments like "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," and you have a film that I refuse to call a guilty pleasure. It's simply wonderful.
1954 USA. Director: Howard Hawks. Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Tommy Noonan, Charles Coburn, Elliott Reid.
Must See
Newly Featured!


text:
By Sarah Little
Wicked http://thechildrenstrust.org/buy-cialis-cost Local Wellesley
Posted Jun 04, 2010 @ 02:37 PM
Wellesley —
What does it take for yards and fields to go organic?
New York just passed a law banning chemical pesticides from all school lawns and turf in the state of New York, signed-off by their governor last week. For those who concern themselves with kids' health, this act is significant, even a tipping point. The science supporting such policy has existed for years, driving Massachusetts in 2000 to pass a law restricting pesticides at schools, and Wellesley's School Committee in 2002 to ban pesticides from school grounds. The New York law applies to a whopping 10,000 schools, and might turn some heads.
"This raises awareness of the important issue of turf pesticides and their potential harmful effects on children to a whole new level," says Patti Wood, Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education, and the author of the ChildSafe School Program that advocates for the elimination of aesthetic pesticides at schools nationwide. "Our Governor and legislators have used the power of their offices to put New York State firmly out front in the battle to remove toxins from our environment and protect our most vulnerable citizens."
Massachusetts' own law, called "An Act Protecting Children and their Families from Harmful Pesticides," passed the Legislature unanimously ten years ago. This law contains an important defining statement: "pesticides contain toxic substances, many of which may have a detrimental effect on human health and the environment and, in particular, have developmental effects on children." Our state law prohibits the aesthetic use of pesticides or any pesticide classified as a likely or probable carcinogen on all public and private school grounds.
Wellesley has taken this one step further, and prohibits any use of synthetic pesticide on school grounds, except in the event of a health emergency. Wellesley's policy also covers land managed by the Natural Resources Commission, including all parkland, several playing fields, and Morses Pond. Unfortunately, Elm Bank in Wellesley is home to a large multi-field soccer complex used by hundreds of Wellesley children that remains under intensive chemical management.
The comparative cost of natural vs. chemical turf management might be a sticking point, but in fact shows a clear win for natural (also called organic) methods. A study by Grassroots with Marblehead native Chip Osborne, a nationally recognized natural turf expert, discovered a net cost savings of 25 percent after five years due to lower materials cost after initial organic turf establishment. Osborne has managed all of Marblehead's parks and athletic fields organically for the past eight years, and regularly shows these beautiful fields to interested groundskeepers from other towns. It is no coincidence that the Town of Wellesley worked with Osborne last year to review the condition of the town's athletic fields and provide natural turf management recommendations. Our school playing fields and parkland provide our kids with functional, safe and ecologically sound playing spaces free of environmental toxins.
What about your own yard? What does it take to "go organic?" The transition itself is simple and cheap enough: Cancel your synthetic fertilizer and pesticide applications. Thousands of biological, chemical and physical elements above and below ground make up the particular ecosystem called your yard. These players will do most of the nutrient recycling, water conservation, and pest control for you, if you let them. Use of synthetic chemicals can suppress these natural processes. An example of this is white clover.
Once considered an attractive and necessary component of healthy turf, clover helps to deliver the essential nutrient nitrogen to enrich the growth of grass. Clover does this without dominating grass because it is easily managed with mowing: mow at 2 inches to favor clover, 3 inches to favor grass. It also stays greener during drought, so makes the lawn look better for longer without water. Plus, white clover has no serious pests. The advent of herbicides made it possible to selectively eliminate all non-grass plants, and clover, though not a weed, suffered collateral damage. Ultimately, it fell out of fashion, became classified as a weed and turned into an annoyance. Ecosystem-minded land managers, though, realize that clover helps turf and reduces a lawn's water and nitrogen needs. This simple plant can save the organic homeowner hundreds of dollars each year in material and labor costs, conserve water, and reduce nitrogen contamination of nearby streams, ponds and Boston Harbor.
Organic methods begin with a site analysis and a soil test to find out who and what you've got in your soil. Then they match up deficiencies with applications of soil amendments, aeration, mowing techniques and other cultural practices to support healthy turf and plants.
Ecosystem-based landscaping works well, saves money, and its benefits extend beyond your property. Your yard is physically, not just metaphorically, connected to you and billions of other living creatures. This ecosystem can either contribute to or detract from your health, your neighbor's health, and your local, regional and global environment. What you do with your property matters.
A fun place to start learning about sustainable organic landscaping is at, well, actually, Harvard University. The Facilities Maintenance Operations group, for the last three years, has been transitioning the 16-acre Harvard Yard to fully organic management. Harvard's head groundskeeper, Wayne Carbone, recently explained the techniques they used to spruce up the Yard in preparation for this year's commencement. "We applied a compost tea rich in beneficial bacteria that have the ability to take up nitrogen and hold it in the soil. Then we applied a light dressing of organic fertilizer." He described how the existing soil protozoa eat the nitrogen-bloated bacteria and slowly release it in a form that is easily absorbed by the grass roots. "The combination of active soil microbiology and a small amount of fertilizer greens up the grass without creating nitrogen pollution." When asked about costs, Carbone said: "Our budget was not increased." Harvard has kindly provided online reports, instructions and a detailed Getting Started primer for all students of organic lawns and landscapes. www.uos.harvard.edu/fmo/landscape/organiclandscaping
If a Harvard education sounds too daunting, and you would rather just pay someone else to understand and manage your yard's ecosystem, you can find a suitable landscaper at the non-profit website: www.organiclandcare.net. Here are listed over a hundred trained and accredited organic landscapers who serve Wellesley. A cautionary note: be wary of landscapers who offer organic then switch you to chemicals as soon as an insect or weed problem occurs. To ensure organic, check references, and do not sign a contract that lists synthetic pesticides as options for the landscaper to use. The organic land care website, which I write for, also maintains current resources for homeowners such as lawn care articles, workshops, product lists, and an online question forum.
Every yard makes a difference, so enjoy the outdoors and learn new stuff.
Sarah Little, Ph.D., a Montvale Road resident, is a geophysicist, environmental scientist and former Wellesley Pesticide Awareness Coordinator.


text:
Availability: This product is currently out of stock.
Warning: prices, links and product specifications for Casio GA-100-1A1DR are submitted by our listed stores. Please notify us if you find any errors.
Find the best deals for Casio GA-100-1A1DR and compare watches offers from hundreds of online stores delivering in Bangalore (Bengalûru), Madras (Chennai), Delhi (Dilli), Jaipur, Calcutta (Kolkata), Bombay (Mumbai) and all over India. With ShopMania you can find the most convenient Casio GA-100-1A1DR prices in the market and be the first to learn about all the available sales and product discounts. Read our users review and comments, browse the Casio GA-100-1A1DR photos and see all the product features and specifications.
Casio GA 100 1A 1DR - Similar searches: Casio GA 100 1A 1DR, Casio GA 100 1 A 1 DR, Casio GA 100 1 A1 DR, Casio GA 100 1A1DR, Casyo ga 100 1a1dr


text:
Researchers who are attempting to answer a research question employ the research process. Though presented in a liner format, in practice the process of research can be less straightforward. This said, researchers attempt to follow the process and use it to present their research findings in research reports and journal articles.
Identifying research problems
Research problems need to be researchable and can be generated from practice, but must be grounded in the existing literature. They may be local, national or international problems, that need addressing in order to develop the existing evidence base.
Searching the existing literature base
A thorough search of the literature using data bases, internet, text and expert sources should support the need to research the problem. This should be broad and in depth, showing a comprehensive search of the problem area.
Critical appraisal of the literature
A critical appraisal framework should be employed to review the literature in a systematic way.
Developing the questions/ and or hypothesis
A more specific research question and /or hypothesis may be developed from the literature review, that provides the direction for the research, which aims to provide answers to the question /hypothesis posed.
Theoretical base
The research may employ a theoretical base to examining the problem, especially seen in masters level research and in many research studies. In the health and social care field this might come from the social sciences, psychology or anthropology.
Sampling strategies
Sampling is the method for selecting people, events or objects for study in research. Non-probability and probability sampling strategies enable the researcher to target data collection techniques. These may need to be of a specific size (sometimes determined by a power calculation) or composition.
Data collection techniques
These are the tools and approaches used to collect data to answer the research question /hypothesis. More than one technique can be employed, the commonest are questionnaires and interviews.
Approaches to qualitative and quantitative data analysis
This component is more fully explored in the site, but can involve qualitative and quantitative approaches, dependent on the type of data collected.
Interpretation of results
The results are interpreted, drawing conclusions and answering the research question /hypothesis. Implications for practice and further research are drawn, which acknowledge the limitations of the research.
Dissemination of research
The research and results can be presented through written reports, articles, papers and conferences, both in print and electronic forms.
Hek G, Judd M, Moule P (2002) Making Sense of Research. An introduction for health and social care practitioners. 2nd Edition. London : Continuum
Alston M and Bowles W (1998) Research for social workers : An introduction to methods. Australia: Allen and Unwin
Burns R (2000) Introduction to research methods. London : Sage
Polit D Beck C and Hungler B (2001) Essentials of nursing research: Methods, appraisal and utilization. 5th Edition. Philadelphia: J B Lippincott Co. http://www.sonoma.edu/users/n/nolan/n400/critique.htm
Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (Eds) (2000) Handbook of qualitative research. 2nd Edition. London : Sage
Back to top


text:
With its infamous long lines, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your license is usually nothing to smile about. These days, it's a mandatory no-big-smiles policy in New Jersey, one of a growing list of states that tell drivers drivers to keep a poker face in their license photos.
Since February, New Jersey motorists have had to maintain neutral expressions on their faces for photographs because of new face-recognition software. Exaggerated facial expressions, like smiling widely, can confuse this software, which is intended to catch fraud, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.
This practice is nothing new and works with other photo guidelines, like eyes needing to be open and no glasses, New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission spokesperson Elyse Coffey told NBC News on Thursday.
"Please don't give us the 'I-just-won-five-million-dollars-in-the-lottery-smile," Coffey said. Instead, she said, residents can smile in a natural way.
Using the facial-recognition technology is part of New Jersey's effort to go through 19 million photo records to catch duplicates, scammers who are trying to create a new identity or people trying to cheat another state agency for services, according to Coffey.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
On Tuesday, New Jersey resident Velvet S. McNeil told the Daily News that she was so baffled why she couldn't smile when she went to take her driver's license picture in Cherry Hill, N.J., that she left in protest. "Why should we all look like androids, looking mopey? I know there are some people who don't have good driver's licenses, but I actually keep all mine," McNeil told the Daily News.
But now that McNeil, 38, knows about the policy, she told the Daily News that she will return to renew her license.
Related: Awkward baby passport photo goes viral
"Some, not all, of the facial recognition technologies can be adversely impacted if a person's expression is anything other than neutral," said Claire O'Brien, spokesperson for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, in a statement. "In other words, smiling could potentially affect the accuracy of the technology."
New Jersey is not alone in its photo rule: Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia are among states that require "neutral facial expressions" to combat fraud, according to a USA TODAY report in 2009.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Did Supreme Court justice tip hand on gay marriage?
- Mom who 'smooshed' son's alleged bully: No regrets
- Video: Thrill ride passengers get stuck 300 feet in the air
- Prosecutors give up fight for James Holmes' notebook
- Mom: Substitute teacher duct-taped kid's mouth shut


text:
I have formated a double like this 9.255 will display 9.3
public double rdTwoDecimal(double d)
DecimalFormat twoD = new DecimalFormat("#.0");
return Double.valueOf(twoD.format(d));
What I now need to do is the decimal can only be .0 or .5 >>>> so 9.3 would be 9.5 when rounded.
I need to figure out how to get the 3, so I can check if it is 3,4,6,7 then display 5 maybe?
Thank you for your help!


text:
Courtesy of Katie Resmondo
Edward Archbold and his fiance, Natasha Proffitt
Edward Archbold was, according to those who met him on Friday night, the life of the party – a bit of a showoff who was up for anything, even a giant cockroach-eating contest.
He won. And then, tragically, he died.
Now police from Deerfield Beach, Fla., about 40 miles north of Miami, are investigating the death of the 32-year-old, who on Facebook went by Edward William Barry.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Archbold, of West Palm Beach, and several other contestants signed up to eat a variety of insects at Ben Siegel Reptiles in Deerfield Beach. After eating dozens of giant cockroaches, Archbold was declared the winner of an ivory-ball python. (The prizes, Archbold indicated on his Facebook page that night, were less significant than the glory. His plan was to give the python to a friend.)
He had also entered a superworm-eating contest earlier in the night.
But after winning, Archbold felt sick and started vomiting. He then collapsed in the store and was later pronounced dead. The medical examiner's office is conducting tests to determine a cause of death, according to the sheriff's office statement.
View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.
On Facebook, Ben Siegel Reptiles wrote that staff met Archbold the night of the Midnight Madness sale: "We all liked him right away. All of us here at Ben Siegel Reptiles are sad that we will not get to know Eddie better, for in the short time we knew him, he was very well liked by all."
In the comments beneath the statement, the reptile store wrote that the prize "now belongs to his estate."
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
In another Facebook comment, an attorney claiming to represent Ben Siegel Reptiles wrote that contest participants had signed waivers accepting their participation in this "unique and unorthodox contest."
"The consumption of insects is widely accepted throughout the world, and the insects presented as part of the contest were taken from an inventory of insects that are safely and domestically raised in a controlled environment as food for reptiles," wrote attorney Luke Lirot.
No other contestants felt sick, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.
And Archbold seemed to be doing all right earlier in the night, according to his own account on Facebook. He took photos of the superworms and wrote: " Also side note im NOW in a super worm eating comp now.......what ever the hell a super worm is?"
Eating the bugs yielded valuable rewards, according to the store's Facebook page: "Eat the most bugs in 4 minutes, win the ball morph. That's it. Oh yeah, any vomiting is an automatic DQ," the advertisement stated. "Eat the most crickets, win a male lesser. Eat the most superworms, win a female orange belly. Eat the most discoid roaches, win a female graphite sired ivory!"
Michael Adams, a professor of entomology at the University of California, Riverside, told The Associated Press that he has never heard of someone dying after eating roaches.
"Unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat," Adams said. "Some people do have allergies to roaches but there are no toxins in roaches or related insects."
Meanwhile, Archbold's friends took to his Facebook page to remember him. Wrote one: "This goes out to one of the most funnest, craziest, and most energetic person I have ever met!!! I will never ever forget u Eddie... I don't think anyone could!!"
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Sandusky insists he's innocent, alleges conspiracy
- Military suicides: Can fish oil help?
- Visit Detroit at your own risk, police union warns
- Detroit police chief resigns amid sex scandal
- Wedding brawl aftermath: Man charged with assaulting cop
- Video: Kony 2012 filmmaker: 'I was not in control of my mind'
Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook